Great Sioux Nation
Oceti Sakowin Dakota, Nakota, Lakota Oyate
November 30, 2016
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC
Re:
Stop the Coming Attack on our Native People!
Dear President Obama:
We write to demand that you take action to avoid a humanitarian crisis: Protect our Native
people! As Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, you are about to preside over a human
rights disaster on the scale of Selma.
We are the original people of this land, now called America. There is a reason that these
states are called North and South Dakota—we are the Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota people. From
the dawn of time, these lands have been our home.
Through treaties, our Itancan of the Lakota, Nakota, Dakota Oyate or, in English, our
Chiefs of the Great Sioux Nation reserved our lands as our “permanent home.” When the United
States invaded our lands, our people fought wars to save our lands, yet America repeatedly attacked
the Great Sioux Nation to steal our lands and destroy our way of life. Now it is happening again!
Two years ago, President Obama, you came to Standing Rock, spoke to our Dakota,
Nakota, and Lakota people and quoted Sitting Bull, “Let us put our minds together and see what
lives we can make for our children.” Then this year, the Army Corps of Engineers purported to
authorize an oil pipeline to violate Sitting Bull’s lands and to poison our waters in the Missouri
River—without even talking to our Native Nations about water quality. Under your
Administration, the Army Corps says the pipeline will never spill, even as it presides over BP
Louisiana/Gulf of Mexico clean-up, EPA’s poisoning of the San Juan River at Navajo, the oil
pipeline burst in the Yellowstone River, the lead in Flint, Michigan, the gas pipeline burst in
Alabama, and the list goes on.
President Barack Obama
November 30, 2016
Page 2
Mr. President, in Washington State, the Army Corps stopped the International Coal
Terminal in May 2016 because it would interfere with Treaty fishing. Under our Treaties, we own
the land along the River, the bed of the River, and the water in the River. Our children drink the
water in the River. We cannot wait for the oil to spill and poison our water. Stop the oil pipeline
now!
Colonel Henderson, your Army Corps Commander on the ground, says that he is going to
protect our Native people by closing the protest area on the ground where they stand. He says, he
wants to protect our people’s safety, but he speaks with a forked tongue. We say Čheží okhížata
waŋ yuhá wóglake. His Orwellian double talk is a disgrace to America.
Our people have reacted to this plan with righteous outrage and Colonel Henderson
provided a troubling response. He claims that he consulted with tribal leaders about his plan. We
the undersigned are the tribal leaders. He did not consult with us. And his response does not deny
that law enforcement will use force to cite and arrest persons in the restricted area, which is the
most dire threat to our people. As soon as Colonel Henderson purported to withdraw the
permission for the Water Protectors to be at their camp, Governor Dalrymple declared that our
people were there on our 1851 Treaty lands trespassing in violation of state law. The Governor
withdrew emergency services for our people, yet the Army Corps claims that its action is for our
people’s safety.
On December 5, 2016, Henderson plans to pull the rug out from under our people, and he
plans to stand back like a matador while North Dakota state officials attack our people with water
cannons, mace, concussion grenades, rubber bullets, and perhaps, real bullets. That will not
absolve the Army Corps of guilt. We say, Mni Wiconi—it means, Water is Life.
It is not right for the Army Corps to give its blessing for North Dakota to attack our Native
people for wanting to live. The last time that the Army had a plan to pacify the Great Sioux Nation,
our men, women and children were slaughtered at Wounded Knee; the time before that, Custer
died and Sitting Bull was chased to Canada by five armies so the General Sherman could steal our
gold. As President, what do you expect of the Army’s leadership this time?
Crazy Horse said, “One does not sell the Earth the people walk on,” and he fought alongside
Red Cloud to protect our homeland. At the close of Red Cloud’s War, in the 1868 Sioux Nation
Treaty, the United States promised: “From this day forward all war between the parties to this
agreement shall forever cease. The government of the United States desires peace, and its honor
is hereby pledged to keep it.”
Mr. President, under the Constitution, those words are law, and it is time for you as
Commander-in-Chief to enforce the law. Get the Army out of Indian country. Stop the oil
pipeline. Protect our drinking water. Preserve our Native homeland.
Stand up for human rights in North Dakota!
President Barack Obama
November 30, 2016
Page 3
In Peace and Friendship
Your Treaty Partners,
Dave Flute, Chairman
Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe
Anthony Reider, President
Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe
William Kindle, President
Rosebud Sioux Tribe
John Yellow Bird Steele, President
Oglala Sioux Tribe
Robert Flying Hawk, Chairman
Yankton Sioux Tribe
Brandon Sazue, Chairman
Crow Creek Sioux Tribe
Tony Reider,
Chairman, Great Plains Chairman’s Association, Inc.
Secretary, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe